Deaf Artist:
Charles Bourke Wildbank

By Rachel Roberts
05/07/2007

Charles
Bourke Wildbank is a painter who began his interest in art at a very
young age by sketching pictures of the things that he wanted or
needed so that his parents could understand him. Wildbank, who was
born deaf, was awarded a fellowship at Yale University in 1969, has
a B.F.A. from the Pratt Institute, 1970, and an M.A. in Education
from Columbia University, 1972. He was a teacher for the deaf until
1978 when decided to go to Europe were upon his return started his
professional career by doing portraits of David Hockney and Luciano
Pavarotti. Wildbank describes his painting style as photorealism and
visionary and hopes to take his audience to a place that allows them
become more aware of their own inner self (Wildbank, 2005).

Wildbank
has a very colorful and precise style of paintings and captures
flowers, sea shells, still life, portraits, and visionary scenes in
a beautiful manor. My favorite of the floral paintings is one called
“Longwood Gardens” and is a picture of lily pads floating on water.
I really like the painting because the water is rippling and
mirroring the clouds in the sky. It looks like glass with the green
pads on it and red flowers spotted around. This picture makes me
feel as if I am sitting on the bank of that lake watching the clouds
go by in the water.

The still
life paintings are amazing and it is hard for me to choose a
favorite but I would have to say “Cherries” and “Entremezzo for Two”
really caught my eye. In the painting of cherries you can see the
light shining off the bright red and water droplets on the cherries
like they have just been rinsed clean. They look so vivid and real
that you could almost reach through this world into the next and
pick one to see what they taste like. In “Entremezzo for Two” I get
the feeling that a very fancy tea party is taking place for some
special people and I am one of them. The picture depicts a shinny
silver tea set with beautiful flowers and chocolate on the tray. The
flowers and sweets are reflected in the tea pot and sugar bowl to
give a collage of color and sliver and sensation. The style is so
correct and precise that again I feel that I am a part of the scene.

The
painting that drew me to this artist is called “The Wave” done in
acrylic on linen. This is a picture full of blues, greens, purple
and white that gives such a motion it makes you wonder were this
wave is traveling. The detail and blending of colors is so amazing
and you can almost see the force driving this body of water to its
destination where ever that may be. I want this wave to sweep
through my walls and take me with it on its journey.

I think
this artist has accomplished his goal of taking his audience to new
levels of themselves and awareness, and I do not think that any
amount of audible words or sounds could begin to touch on the
feelings and emotions created from these works of art. I have never
seen these paintings up close in a gallery but would not hesitate if
the opportunity presented itself. If I am moved this much just
sitting on my couch I can only imagine what standing in a room full
of this art would feel like. All of these painting and many more are
available to view at Wildbank’s website sited below.

References:
Wildbank, Charles. (2006, Jan.29). http://wildbank.com

Eisenhauser, Sven. deaf-art.com-USA. Retrieved 1 May 2007

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